Social media offers a golden opportunity to promote your event to a vast number of people at once, and even to invite them personally. But having a plan is important. There’s no point sinking a ton of time or money into an event if no one shows up. Whether you’re hosting a festival, concert, conference, sporting match, speaking tour, or any other of the countless varieties of events that exist, social media can be a powerful ally for driving awareness. Not to mention ticket sales. You just have to promote the event effectively.
With so many different social media platforms currently available and tools for you to work with, there are multiple creative ways to promote an event on social media. One of the most obvious benefits of promoting an event with social media is the price - or, more accurately, the lack of it. Since social media is free to use, it costs nothing to start promoting events with it, except for the money you might spend on tools such as Facebook Ads, Sprout Social, Hootsuite etc. It doesn’t have to be a time-consuming task, either. In the hands of a creative social media agency like Anchor, social media is a powerful tool that offers a high return on investment for your money and time.
So what does a creative agency’s social media strategy involve? In Anchor’s case, it involves powerful campaigns that amplify your brand voice online and get your event noticed by the kind of people who would benefit the most from being there. There’s no need to throw a party no one comes to. There are many creative ways to promote an event on social media, and Anchor can show you how.
Benefits of Social Media
With more than half the world now on social media, it’s a cost-effective way to reach many people. Across various platforms, the average adult now spends 95 minutes a day on social media. This gives them ample time to come across posts for companies like yours. Indeed, 77% of marketers believe social media has been somewhat to very helpful for their business in 2022. Social media contributes to a business’s success in a variety of ways. It boosts brand awareness, helps establish you as a thought leader in your field, drives traffic to your website, provides another avenue for interacting with your customers and lets you plan and promote events.
No matter your platform, there are always creative ways to promote an event on social media.Of course, there are dos and don’ts for businesses using social media. Creating well-written content that connects with your customers, getting the tone right and ensuring it’s mobile-friendly will dramatically increase your chances of success.
Different Platforms on Social Media
With so many different social media platforms out there, where should you promote your event? The most popular options include:
Facebook is the largest and most widely-used social media platform in the world and looks set to maintain that position for now. The social media platform’s benefits include having Facebook Ads so you can promote an event, linking to a venue’s official listing in the address and using keywords as hashtags.
A platform popular with younger users and with very high levels of engagement, Instagram has many great features. Including stunning visuals and the right hashtags will help you spread the word.
Twitter’s short, up-to-the-minute micro-statuses allow you to promote your events with hashtags. You can even get someone to live-tweet new developments at the event itself.
Spotify
If your event is music-themed (e.g. a festival or concert), Spotify Ad Studio is a natural fit. Yet, with many users spending hours per day listening to their favourite music, it’s a lucrative and cost-effective way to advertise all event types.
YouTube
You can use the video streaming platform for event marketing in various ways, including posting promos on your own channel or partnering with influencers.
The social networking page for professionals is an excellent place to promote business events, networking events, seminars etc., aimed at those in your field. You can create a LinkedIn event from your company page and promote it among your professional network.
Creative Ways to Promote an Event on Social Media
There are several creative social media approaches to promoting your event, regardless of your chosen platform. Some of the most effective includes
Create an event page
On platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can create official pages to promote your event, tag the official pages of special guests and speakers, and let users register when they want to attend. With an event page, you can build awareness and suspense with regular posts and announcements about what your guests can look forward to when the big occasion rolls around.
Post a countdown
Using Instagram Stories or a Facebook app, you can add a timer that counts down to the date and time of your event. All you have to do is click ‘create’ on Instagram Stories and set up a countdown that your followers will be able to share. They can also turn on reminders for the event. It’s a fairly simple way to create a sense of urgency and entice more people to come.
Post teasers
In the lead-up to the event, you can give your followers a taste of what to expect with posts that slowly reveal important details and developments. Examples include introducing the special guests at your seminar one by one or making separate posts to highlight the different artists at a music festival in the weeks preceding the event.
Create a hashtag
A branded hashtag lets users find posts that are relevant to your event across social media – as well as make their own, spreading awareness even more. The best hashtags are short, easy to spell and easy to remember.
Give a sneak peek
Giving people a little glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes is a simple way to make your brand appear more human and relatable. It also helps build excitement for an upcoming event. Sharing photos and videos of your guests or speakers at candid moments helps followers feel like they’re part of the action and helps build excitement for the event.
Host a giveaway
To build brand awareness and attract more followers, hosting a giveaway is a winning strategy. Simply ask your followers to comment on, share or tag a friend in the comments of a post to go in the draw for prizes. The more shares and comments you get, the more word spreads around your follower’s networks and the more eyes on your event.
Design a filter
For an even more creative social media approach than a hashtag, create your own custom filter for the event. On Instagram and Facebook, you can use a free tool called Spark AR Studio to design your very own AR (augmented reality) branded filters. Your followers can use these branded filters in their own posts and stories, too, leading to more awareness for your event.
Creative Social Media with Anchor Digital
If you really want to ensure your event is a success and draws the numbers you want, your best bet is to use a professional creative agency’s social media strategy.
As Brisbane’s leading social media agency, Anchor’s social media strategy is about building brand awareness and driving targeted solutions across every phase of the customer journey. We find ways to get your brand liked, shared and discussed across all the most popular social media platforms on the market right now, and we can do the same for your events.
Our creative agency social media approach is a strategic one. There’s no haphazard posting across various social media accounts, and hoping for the best. Instead, we craft a custom social media strategy with personalised solutions to amplify your brand voice online. We focus only on the platforms, the posts and the tactics that will help you cut through the noise and get you results. There are no lock-in contracts, just data-driven social media audits, solid strategy and effective social media marketing and advertising solutions. Drop us a line and get the numbers you want at your next event!
